All posts tagged: Brooklynite

Billi Kid takes a Shine to Brooklynite and Street Art Sales

A Concept for a gallery show inspires one street artist to try an on-the-street experiment.

Billi Kid recently completed his version of a shoe-shine box to contribute to the unusual show that Bed-Stuy gallery Brooklynite opens next week, and he decided to take his box a step further.

Billi Kid's contribution to the shinebox show also doubled as an experiment on the street (photo courtesy the artist)
Billi Kid’s contribution to the shinebox show also doubled as an experiment on the street (photo courtesy the artist)

The 100 artists, mostly street artists, have created their own version of a shoe-shine box, a metaphor for the entrepreneurial spirit. “Having been born in a third world country, Colombia, I have seen many a kid making a living shining shoes,” says Billi. “They hustle a modest living out of their shoeshine boxes. It is a testament to the human will to survive that these kids stretch their craft day and night to simply put food on their table. That is, if they even have a table.”

Billi Kid is a bit of an entrepreneur himself so he used his shine box on the street to sell some of his artwork.  In New York City, as a result of street artists winning a fight with the Giuliani administration in the late 1990’s to sell their art on the streets, you are allowed set up a table and sell your own artwork without fear of reprisal.

“I took Brooklynite’s challenge to heart and set out to see if I could actually put food on the table working out of my “SHINEBOX,” says the artist. Taking into account overhead costs for creating his postcards, “I figured that I would need to sell at least 16 postcards per hour @ a $1.00 each to make $8.00 dollars in profit an hour.”

Traffic was pretty good on his spot near the park, and a number of people stopped to look at his signature political-personality postcards featuring the likes of George Bush, Sara Palin, and Michelle Obama.  Within a couple of hours, 20 postcards of Billi Kid’s had sold, and the short-lived experiment ended up with Billi and his cameraman in a nearby pizza joint eating the profits.  Luckily, there was money left for the subway home.

AND HE MADE A PROMOTIONAL VIDEO WITH THE EXPERIENCE

More on Billi’s experiment Here

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Sneak Pics of “ShineBox” at Brooklynite & A True childhood Shinebox story.

Coming up November 21 a show of work with one of the most curious themes you have ever heard of is brushing up big at Brooklynite –

“Go Get Your Shinebox”

– where shelves are being sawed while we speak – to display 100 international artists’ interpretation of the shoe shine box familiar to an earlier era; an earlier depression, I like to say.

NOVEMBER 21 Opening at Brooklynite

NOVEMBER 21 Opening at Brooklynite

In the meantime, our favorite street-art photographer Jaime Rojo writes about his own personal experience being a shoe-shine boy one summer in his little town in Mexico.

“Go get your shine box!” My mother commanded it and she meant business. A rite of passage for the five boys in my family: for one week take your shoe-shine box down town to the commercial district of our small town and learn about earning a living.

I imagine that my parents had more than one goal in mind. To inculcate us with the values of honest work and to make us study hard at school so we wouldn’t have to shine shoes for a living.  I got that lesson fast.

Sure enough, for my 11th birthday I got a shoe-shine box with my name on it. And that box was not a toy. “You don’t play with this”, my father told me.

I only lasted a week shining shoes of businessmen and the boots of caballeros. And I got myself in big trouble.  I broke a cardinal rule; no CANTINAS. They were dirty shameful places no respectful boy should go in.

I thought, “How come the real shoe-shine boys are allowed into the cantinas but not me? That’s where the money is!” I got in trouble with another boy who said I was in his territory and he punched me. The bloody nose from that cantina-whooping made me look tough, but not tough enough to take on my parents. After a lot of yelling and the ROJO INQUISTION my little entrepreneurial adventure on the street was slammed closed like a shine box.

The following summer I sold ice cream in the park, but that’s another story.

>>>>> >  >>> >> >>>>>> > >

Brooklynite Gallery will bring back those childhood memories on November 21 with an impressive roster of artists creating their own shine boxes.

Here are some sneak peek images from the show for your pleasure with more to come later. Enjoy!

3TTMAN
3TTMAN

Ben Frost
Ben Frost

Billi Kid
Billi Kid

Brooklyn Street Art has a great little posting coming up about this guy Billi Kid, and an experiment he did on the street with it on Central Park South with his shinebox.

Also we’re hoping to shed some light on the genesis for this unprecedented  show of over 100 artists’ interpretation of the traditional shoe-shine box, a street fixture from our last depression.

>>>>>   >   .>>>>> .>>>>>>>>>>>>

“Go Get Your Shinebox” at Brooklynite Gallery >>> Brooklynite Gallery Website Here

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Rain for Dain but everything is Copesetic: Brooklynite Gallery opens with first Solo Show of Street Artist Dain

Funny sculpture of a street sign overhangs the entrance to Brooklynite Gallery (photo Jaime Rojo)

Funny sculpture of a street sign overhangs the entrance to Brooklynite Gallery (photo Jaime Rojo)

The dance floor was wet, some of the work in the back yard had to come off the walls to protect it, but the orchestra played “In the Mood” brightly and the guests gamely took a twirl for the fun of it at street artist Dain’s first solo show of his fine art at Brooklynite Gallery .

Umbrellas on the dance floor (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Umbrellas on the dance floor (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Saturday’s show hinged itself on the theme of 1940’s glamour in old Brooklyn, and the gallery was quite literally transformed into a middle class apartment with flourishes and pitch-perfect detail enough to make you think that maybe it always looks like this.

(image Steven P. Harrington)

(image Steven P. Harrington)

The work showed a graduated movement forward by the artist from his street art work, with greater layering and collaging, finer detail, thoughtful splattering of color, and a thick coat of lacquer. Despite the weather, the mood inside Brooklynite was warm, congenial, and celebratory.

(photo Steven P. Harrington)
(photo Steven P. Harrington)

Smaller works were framed like photos and hung salon style in a family room manner (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Smaller works were framed like photos and hung salon style in a family room corner (photo Steven P. Harrington)

(photo Steven P. Harrington)
(photo Steven P. Harrington)

(photo Steven P. Harrington)

(photo Steven P. Harrington)

And the band played on (photo Jaime Rojo)
And the band played on (photo Jaime Rojo)

The captain ran a tight ship with her watchful eye all night. (photo Jaime Rojo)
The captain ran a tight ship with her watchful eye all night. (photo Jaime Rojo)

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My Name is Dain, Everything is Copasetic

Rose Tuzzolino

Rose Alba Caruso, the aunt of Anthony from WhiskeyGoneBad, in Boro Park Brooklyn, 1947 (family photo) (links below)

When people get nostalgic for a time period, it’s usually for the era when they were kids or teens. Boomers have the Beatles, Gen X’ers have the Clash, Y’ers have Biggie, Millenials have …….. Guitar Hero?  Anyway, who do you know that is nostalgic for Benny Goodman?  Me either.

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Ready for the big show? (courtesy of Brooklynite Gallery)

In his first solo gallery show, DAIN has fixated on figures and fashions and the formality of a time when Swing was King and he’s installing it throughout Brooklynite Gallery for this Saturday. In fact, there will be a 12-piece orchestra. So it’s Brooklyn Night at Brooklynite, 65 years ago.

liz

A new Liz (DAIN) (courtesy of Brooklynite Gallery)

“The work for the show manages to tell stories from 1940’s. Fun times, glamorous times, working class people, Brooklyn and specifically Coney Island,” says Rae McGrath, owner of Brooklynite Gallery with his wife Hope.  Makes me think of Italian Ices, Devildogs, Drakes Cakes, Hot Dogs, Potato Knishes, Pickles.

The street artist DAIN has been spinning these 33 1/3 long-plays for a while on the street now too, with colorized glamour shots of movie queens like Betty Davis and Audry Hepburn. More recently he’s been breathing life into black and white portraits of “everyday” men and women with sensible getups and nifty haircuts and a year like “1943” painted on them in a shakey hand.  It’s almost like Dain wants you to be nostalgic for a time very few of us knew.

Dain 1943

Dain 1943 (photo Jaime Rojo)

Looking at the signposts of the era that followed a long depression in the country does cause comparisons and some longing. There was a certain feeling of connectedness in a homogenized society that had been engendered by common economic suffering during the Depression, utter distrust of the banks, and an all consuming world war. Post-Depression, Post-War government worked hard to establish stability and growth through investment in a solid middle class; education (the GI Bill), health care (the dawn of Social Security), employment (the Work Projects Administration; WPA), a booming economy, a chicken in every pot…. I’m nostalgic already.  But before we clamour for glamour of our nostalgic view, we remember that African Americans were conspicuously annexed from large swaths of the booming new era, as were a host of others who weren’t white, heterosexual, and religious…

altar     Ready for the big show? (courtesy of Brooklynite Gallery)

An Altarred First Communion? (DAIN) (courtesy of Brooklynite Gallery)

Looking at Dain’s new work, we’re reminded that people used to be modest in their appearance, and it looked kind of cute too. Modesty that is attractive in a reassuring sort of way, and if you let your mind wander, it smolders beneath.  Unlike the rockers of the 50’s and hippies of the 60’s, there isn’t shock value for it’s own sake. Walking up Bedford Avenue in Wiliamsburg on a Saturday night you can see a newfound romance for this tamed form of expression, as long as we can still have our “D.I.Y.” take on the subject and equality across the board is in full effect.  Dain is feelin’ it, and it’s making a certain sense.

(courtesy of Brooklynite Gallery)

A beautiful day at Coney Island from DAIN (courtesy of Brooklynite Gallery)

The gallery opening and show bring home some of the Brooklyn 1940’s, and the space has never been so fully utilized to evoke a theme.  Rae says, “the installation and redesign for this exhibition is the biggest undertaking the gallery has done to date. Working closely alongside DAIN we have managed to really bring out his vision for the look and feel of the 1940’s.”

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(DAIN) (Brooklynite Gallery)

Photo of Rose Alba Caruso, and more information about WhiskeyGoneBad can be found here.

COPASETIC – DAIN at Brooklynite September 12 – October 10, 2009

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On with the (Street Art) Show !

Action!  That’s what is happening in the street art scene in New York,

despite the wretched economy and artists losing their dayjobs, and galleries of all types dreaming up new innovative ways to stay afloat, the street art keeps coming.

In one week only (the week we lost Michael Jackson) we hit only a few of the events going on that featured street artists – we’re considering rollerskates and interns at this point – and even if you can’t afford it, you feel rich!  Plus the refreshments are usually free… just don’t take it on the street or you get a ticket.

Welcome to the new Brooklynite Pop Up Shop in the East Village (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Welcome to the new Brooklynite Pop Up Shop in the East Village. The main gallery remains in Bed Stuy, where Ray and Hope hope it will stay! (photo Steven P. Harrington)

New Specter Print at Brooklynite  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
New Specter Print at Brooklynite – he did 8 versions of this, and they are much more impressive in person (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Zbiok and Remed, Various and Gould at Brooklynite  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Zbiok and Remed, Various and Gould at Brooklynite (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Cool Aiko pieces at Brooklynite  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Cool Aiko pieces on cupboard doors at Brooklynite (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Michael in the Headlines  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Michael in the Headlines (photo Steven P. Harrington)

A tribute by a fan in the crowd outside the Apollo Theatre in Harlem on Friday  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Hundreds of fans crowded together to dance and shout and shake their bodies down to the ground outside the Apollo Theatre in Harlem on Friday (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Imminent Disaster at Ad Hoc  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Imminent Disaster at Ad Hoc – sorry no good pics from Gaia – you can check our interview with them a couple days back (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Bishop 203 at Eastern District  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
An impressive number of new canvas pieces by Bishop 203 at Eastern District (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Dennis McNett (McMutt) at Eastern District  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Ever cheerful Dennis McNett (McMutt) at Eastern District (photo Steven P. Harrington)

The crowd at Eastern District  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
The crowd at Eastern District (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Dick Chicken at Eastern District  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
The captions are the funny part. But no closeups here, sorry. Dick Chicken at Eastern District (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Can you name these 4 album covers? Invader at Jonathan Levine  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Can you name these 4 album covers? Invader at Jonathan Levine (photo Steven P. Harrington)

WK Interact wall sculpture  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
WK Interact wall sculpture at Jonathan Levine Gallery (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Vixen with cougar by WK Interact (courtesy Jonathan Levine) (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Vixen with cougar by WK Interact (courtesy Jonathan Levine) (photo Steven P. Harrington)

WK Interact courtesy Jonathan Levine Gallery  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
WK Interact courtesy Jonathan Levine Gallery (photo Steven P. Harrington)

With friends like these (WK Interact at Jonathan Levine Gallery)  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
A series of new portraits of WK’s friends adorned the gallery – with friends like these… (WK Interact at Jonathan Levine Gallery) (photo Steven P. Harrington)

A blur in motion, WK Interact at Jonathan Levine  (photo Steven P. Harrington)
A blur in motion, WK Interact signs fresh copies of the new Drago volume about him at Jonathan Levine (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Skewville's donated piece at the fundraiser for North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition in Greenpoint (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Skewville’s donated piece at the fundraiser for NbPAC (North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition) in Greenpoint  (photo Steven P. Harrington)

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Elusive Dain grants interview

Big ups to Brooklynite Gallery for getting this exclusive interview with Brooklyn street artist Dain, who has been rockin’ the starlet/portrait pasteups since before Swoon and Supine were playing with those little rounded kiddie scissors and Elmer’s glue, ya’ll.

Dudes’ been mixing wheatpaste since street artists had to make it out of mashed potatoes. This inside look at his home and studio reveals the process, the plain-spoken perspective, and it puts the pox on all those poseurs who are puttin up putrid pink powder-puff pusilanimy today.  Period.


Master Dain does iconic Audry. (copyright ) Charlie Cravero

 

Dain on Mulberry St.

Dain frequently draws upon images from his childhood. (photo credit: Noah Sussman)

Noah Sussman

Dain

Old Skool Dain from back in the day. (photo credit: Petroleum Jelliffe)

Petroleum Jelliffe

On Driggs

Brooklyn Dain goes hard. (photo credit: Hrag Vartanian)

Hrag Vartanian



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Ben Frost at Brooklynite

“Plague Landscapes”

“PLAGUE LANDSCAPES” by BEN FROST
June 20th – July 18, 2009
Australian artist Ben Frost unleashes
“Plague Landscapes”, an exhibition of hyper-infused fresh new
work at Brooklynite Gallery, 334 Malcolm X Blvd., Brooklyn, New York.

frost EVITE.jpg

Geographically speaking, Australia is a planet all it’s own. And
just maybe that is the reason, and the ONLY reason, why Ben Frost
hasn’t already taken his seat in the front row of relevant Pop Artists
working today.
If imagery had physical weight, Frost’s canvases would come
crashing down onto the gallery floor. His work is jam-packed with so
much skewed pop culture imagery, his twisted characters appear to be
fighting for face time. His work is overwhelming and reminiscent of the
the billboards and video screens we are forced to view in a ‘Clockwork
Orange’ like fashion everyday —yet far more savory.
Looking at Ben Frost’s work– You think you’ve seen it somewhere before,
–but wait, that’s others trying to duplicate a style he’s perfected long ago.
Sure Frost’s arsenal includes the icons and bubble gum color we’ve come to
expect, but now turn up hue, turn up the saturation and add a story-line to that
blockbuster summer movie– It’s Ultra Pop! –BANG! BANG!
OPENING RECEPTION: June 20th from 7:00pm- 9:00pm
MUSICIAL GUEST TO BE ANNOUNCED
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Irony is the BAST Policy

Nose Candy

with BAST

Brooklynite Gallery
334 Malcolm X Boulevard

Opening Night
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
7 – 10PM

Behold Brookynite! Yonder grows a New gallery in Bed Stuy and that is thy name; the Great Eastern Expansion emanates further out from the crusty rock of gothamite.  Brooklynite is a natural outgrowth of that thing that the Brooklyn art scene is famous for; community.

Brooklyn born and bred, Bast returns to blaze the trail a little further;  A continuous contributor to the Brooklyn street art scene for more than a decade, Bast is punk collage perfection – putrid pop and sexified grit; pure revolution de papel.

This time BAST has been sniffing around the pretty glitter and he blasts forward with certain and jarring new works that bring a rush to the senses, and base titillation to the loins. In addition, he features 4 plaster busts of disgusting creatures mounted like trophies with mad bling and even rhinestone studded grills.  The  pig, the alien – basically all of them are disconcerting in their resemblance to people I’ve known or been related to.

Brooklynite Gallery 347.405.5976

The show runs June 10 – July 12, 2008

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